McDonald's partnering with UberEats for expanded delivery

Delivery will be offered in 3,500 McDonald’s restaurants in the United States by the end of June, said Stephen J. Easterbrook, president and chief executive officer of Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s Corp. The fast-food company has partnered with UberEats to deliver food to customers in select markets nationwide.

“We only started in Florida in January, in Miami, Orlando and Tampa,” Mr. Easterbrook said during a May 31 presentation at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decision Conference in New York. “Early this month, we added Chicago, Columbus, Los Angeles and Phoenix. And since then, we’ve also added Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Diego, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Seattle, Denver, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Fresno, and we also offer delivery right here in New York City.”

McDonald’s is advantaged in the delivery game, with nearly 75% of the U.S. population living within 3 miles of its restaurants, Mr. Easterbrook said.

“Through delivery, we’ll bring the McDonald’s experience to more customers in their homes, their dorm rooms, their workplaces and beyond,” he said. “Encouraged by early results in the U.S., delivery is resonating well, particularly with our younger consumers. Sixty per cent of orders are placed during the evening or late night, which provides an opportunity to grow day parts where we have underutilized capacity. And because speed does matter, we’re getting food from order inception to the customer’s door in less than 30 minutes on average.”

Delivery, Mr. Easterbrook said, “is a $100 billion market, and we’ve got $1 billion of it.” It’s one of several initiatives under way at McDonald’s as the company looks to accelerate growth by retaining, regaining and converting customers, Mr. Easterbrook said.

“Retaining customers is about maintaining our strength in areas where we’ve traditionally been the leader, including the kid and family occasions, things like food-led breakfast,” he said. “Regaining customers is about recapturing our leadership position by bringing back the value consumer, continuing to improve the taste of our burgers and chicken and making convenience about more than simply physical proximity and drive-thrus…

“When it comes to converting customers, this is about taking greater advantage of the underdeveloped opportunities, including coffee and snacking, to bring the casual customer in the door more often.

“We’re moving with purpose to bring the biggest benefit to the most people in the shortest possible time, which really means us breaking the traditional planning cycle and taking bigger and bolder actions now that can accelerate momentum and compound our growth.”